Amethyst Wing
by Hseru
Summary: With two colonies completely destroyed, and no evidence that points to anything substantial, how will the Gundam pilots deal with this mass genocide murderer? (Warnings:angst, blood, shounen ai 1x2 3x4)
1. Preface

Title: Amethyst Wings

Author: H'seru

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gundam, or any of it's chars, much to their relief ^_-

Warnings: Mild citrus warning, more towards the fluff end, nothing serious. Shounen ai, angst, blood, violence, mild language, and probably some OOC-ness (Though I'll try and keep to the original char personality)

Rated: PG13

Hidden within the folds of humanity

Black and white do there meet

Life, death; a spiral of similarity

Heart that doth the rhythm beat

Amethyst eyes stared at a dull, white ceiling, a bored expression plastered onto a face too used to smiling at every waking moment whether really happy or not. They traced the hairline fractures that covered the white surface, almost down to counting them.

Duo yawned, grimacing as the small movement brought him pain. His eyes stopped their scrutiny of the ceiling, and wandered around the room for the hundredth time that day. Equally white walls meagerly decorated with almost gruesome pictures of inner disorders greeted his eyes, as well as an assortment of cold metal machines, tubes, and another bed identical to the one he'd inhabited for the past week. His long, chestnut hair was clumsily done up in a braid that'd decided it'd had enough of being bound, and was coming undone. It lay beside him, as prone as Duo himself.

As Duo was the only occupant in the monotonous hospital room, he'd passed through the stages of being restless, to bored out of his mind, and was now currently entering comatose. It was a horrible way to spend what should have been his few days off.

He abhorred having to be still for any amount of time, and the remaining few days until he was released from the ward would be filled with nothing but white walls, nurses able to talk an ear off the dead, and the spasmodic sound of the air compressor in his bed.

Sighing at his fate, his thoughts wandered back to what had brought him there. Duo cursed himself now for getting caught so unawares on a mission that was supposed to have been as routine as brushing his hair. He'd not ended up quite as lucky as other times, but he reflected on the thought that he was still alive after a blast that could have not only killed him, but could have reduced Deathscythe to a pile of charred metal.

All five of them had been sent on a mission to destroy a Land To Space missile silo. Again, routine. Several Aries, and land Taurus suits were there to try and stop them, and he'd laughed at their attempts to foil Shinigami's plans. He'd advanced, Quatre on his left, Wufei and Trowa on his right, and Heero, surging ahead faster than the rest of them, was already isolated in front of them, surrounded by a contingent of Taurus suits.

Intent on helping him, Duo sliced through two suits at once with his beam scythe, and was suddenly enveloped by an enormous blast planted directly under him. Bright flaming light scoured his eyes, and he screamed as the shock wave twisted at both him and Deathscythe. It felt like he'd been plunged into the heart of a fire, as the metal around him superheated in seconds, yet resisted the urge to melt. The explosion rocketed around him, and over the noise, the sound of screeching metal met his bleeding ears as the burned hulk of Deathscythe collapsed backwards. He'd blacked out before it completed it's impact, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, and so didn't see when the glowing eyed figure of Wing Zero caught Deathscythe's limp metal form. 

Upon regaining consciousness, Duo'd found himself covered in bandages, his entire body nothing but a mass of pain, and himself relocated to a small hospital in a city far distant from where the mission had been staged.

Not long after, he'd gotten a call from Quatre. Duo's eyes widened with surprise at the knowledge that Heero'd dropped him off at the hospital, and not left it to one of the others. Then Quatre told him he'd finished the mission first, and that sounded more like the Heero he knew.

Now, Duo lay in the creaky hospital bed for it, almost healed enough to leave. He'd been burned in several places, but not nearly as bad at is had felt at the time. Lacerations, internal bleeding, 3rd degree burns; the doctors said it was a miracle he'd be able to leave in a few days. Anyone else would be in bed for about a month before the doctors would agree to release them, but they had no reason to keep Duo there; he was nearly healed. Just the few stubborn and more debilitating wounds were left, mostly comprised of what had been torn inside his body. He'd stopped coughing up blood on the second day.

His only worry was about the condition of Deathscythe, who'd taken the brunt of the impact. From Quatre's report, half of the circuitry was fried, fused together from the heat, and the external workings were severely damaged. Luckily, the explosion had not penetrated through the Gundanium shielding, so Deathscythe was in pretty good condition, considering. Duo'd be able to fix it up in no time, if he could ever get out of this damn hospital.

A squeak at the door brought his attention back to the now, as one of the nurses entered, carrying a tray. She set it down on the bed side table, and Duo's eyes narrowed fractionally as the syringe on the tray was picked up. 

"What the hell is that-" 

He began, before the needle was slid, unceremoniously, into his arm, pumping the drug into his blood system. Before he could begin to protest, the white room swam about him, darkening. Vaguely, he heard the nurse saying something about him needing to sleep to recover strength, but he was already too far under to reply as scathingly as he desired to. Damn, but the stuff worked fast, he though as the darkness closed in. By the time the nurse had left, Duo was dead to the world, sleeping beyond the reach of dreams.


	2. A New Problem

Title: Amethyst Wing

Author: H'seru

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gundam, or any of it's chars, much to their relief ^_-

Warnings: Mild citrus warning, more towards the fluff end, nothing serious. Shounen ai, angst, blood, violence, mild language, and probably some OOC-ness (Though I'll try and keep to the original char personality)

Rated: PG13

Decisions made based upon man

A flight into the place nightmares dwell

There on demons to place a ban

Within, do breathe things entirely fell

Laid out on his back, ratchet in one greasy hand, the other carefully holding back a mass of different colored wires, Duo paused to mop his brow, leaving a smear of black oil. Grasping the ratchet, he finished tightening the bolts which held one of the power panels in place. Then he closed the panel, examining his handy work.

Deathscythe was near to being rebuilt.

Thankfully, Quatre had hauled it to his personal complex where he'd had technicians working on it since Duo'd been admitted to the hospital. Since fine tuning it was a job for the pilot however, Duo had began as soon as he'd returned, overjoyed to see his beloved Deathscythe so close to working order again after only eight days.

Now, as he stepped back, he reminded himself to thank Quatre once again for his foresight.

Setting down the ratchet, and wiping his hands free of the oil, Duo walked into the smallish house built into the complex, where the other four were seated, pouring over the next mission instructions via Heero's laptop. They glanced up as he entered, various expressions crossing their faces. Quatre tried to hide a laugh as Trowa gave a small smirk. Wufei rolled his eyes, muttering about the injustices of having to work with an idiot. Heero grunted out a low "baka" before ignoring him completely, as he normally did.

A quizzical look crossed Duo's face as he saw their reactions.

"What's so funny?" He said, a tad irritated.

Quatre laughed out loud before he explained himself.

"Duo…your face" He chuckled. "You've got oil smeared all over it"

"Oi…it's not that funny" He replied, walking to the bathroom to clean his face, which was nearly black. He had to grin at the way he looked though. Covered in oil and grease from head to foot, even his long braid was a few shades darker. In his quest to revive Deathscythe, he'd not even noticed. Foregoing his previous plan, Duo gathered some clean clothes, and stripped himself, hopping into the shower. 

Letting the water wash away the dirt, cascading over him in tiny waterfalls, he scrubbed at his hair and body, reveling in the feeling of being clean again. 

He sighed into the shower after he'd finished cleaning, and turned the hot water up, just enjoying the feel of it. He stayed that way for some time, back arched slightly into the thrumming pulse of the shower.

Then, suddenly, the hot water ran out, and it turned freezing cold. He yelped, jumping out of the stream of what could pass for melted ice. Quickly turning off the water, he got out, towel drying off. 

"Freakin water heater..." He muttered "Can't a guy get a decent shower without becoming a human Popsicle?"

He pulled on the clean clothes, consisting of the usual black garb, and wrapped his hair in a towel before leaving the bathroom for his own room. 

"His" room was really just part of a whole suite, but he had to room with Heero, so they'd at least managed to get separate rooms for a change. Now instead of the same room, their rooms connected, as did most of the rooms in the place, separated by a short hallway. Quatre didn't know who'd built the complex, but they had not prepared for the number of people there now.

Not that Duo really cared about the separate rooms. He rather liked rooming with the stoic pilot, even if his life was in danger at every waking (and sleeping) moment. 

His thoughts wandered a bit as he began the task of brushing out his hair. Going slowly, picking through the knots so as to not break it, he had the mass of chestnut silk brushed and rebraided in less than twenty minutes.

Patting down the last few wild hairs, he walked back into the main living area again. This time, he didn't get any funny faces from the others as he sat down.

"So, What's the what?" He asked, looking over Heero's shoulder at the e-mail sent mission, fresh braid flopping over his shoulder to thunk wetly against Heero's back.

"Hn." Heero said, throwing a glare at him.

"Oh...ah, sorry 'bout that" Duo said, pulling the braid back.

"From what this says..." Quatre began, all earlier playfulness gone. "Oz is mobilizing in an area to the south west. They're pulling in troops from all over the place, spaced out so as to not attract attention. At least thirteen air carriers have landed, each with a dozen Aries and Taurus suits carried within, and more are on their way. Our objective is to wait for most of the force to arrive, then destroy the troops stationed there. It would be about a week before the desired number arrives at the base however." Quatre stopped, looking around at the others.

"If we allow them to strengthen their forces further," Trowa's calm voice cut into the silence. " we'll have a hard time of handling them. That's already over thirty suits for the each of us, and twice that number is expected to arrive before we are supposed to attack."

Heero's eyes cut into the message again, already memorizing it to perfection as the others mulled over it. He'd already accepted this mission, even if the others didn't. He was, after all, the perfect soldier, and that included following orders. Period.

"Well, it's not like we can't handle it." Duo said, leaning back, hands behind his head. "Shinigami's ready for anything Oz can throw at us." He grinned nonchalantly.

"You didn't seem so ready last time." Trowa said, single eye focused on the braided pilot.

"Hey, that won't happen again." Duo answered back, waving off Trowa's astute words.

"What ever you do, just don't get in my way." Heero said, getting up and walking out of the room, as impassive and closed to the others as he'd always been.

Duo stuck his tongue out at his retreating back.

"Pushy" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deathscythe's reconstruction was completed that same day, after Duo continued his work on it. He took another shower later to once more remove the oil from various parts of his anatomy, making it quick this time.

As the sun slipped below the horizon line, he was now glad for the door separating his and Heero's rooms, because the Cobalt blue eyed pilot insisted on typing up his work late into the night. The infernal clack clacking of the keyboard could drive anyone insane, and it always did a job on Duo's amount of beauty sleep.

Now, as he lay in bed, he suddenly felt a heavy weariness come over him, dragging him down to the peace of sleep, despite the muffled noises around him.

Sleepily, he identified the noises. The noise of the laptop was muffled enough to not be bothersome, but it was still there. Soft voices from the room next to him came lightly through the wall. Quatre and Trowa. He smiled childishly. They'd not quite made their interest in each other public, but they spent as much time together as they could. Duo'd even seen them kissing in the hall. A small peck, true, but both looked happy afterwards. Even Trowa's emotionless eyes seemed to shine with an inner fire, and Quatre had blushed profusely.

He'd slipped away before either could notice though, not wanting to get caught peeking at something that was not meant to be a sideshow, but cherished instead.

Duo sighed. His own love life, not to mention actual life, was in a rut at the moment. The object of his confused affections ignored him. He was tiring of being in danger everyday, always having to hide from people who should of loved him for his efforts, for all of their efforts.

With these troubling thoughts chasing each other about his mind, he drifted to a sleep that was full of contorted dreams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duo awoke suddenly to an odd sound that had brought him from an interesting dream, the red haze of a barely risen sun not enough to blind him as it came again.

*Bang Bang Bang!*

"Duo!! You need to see this!" Came the voice of Quatre through the door. He pounded on it again.

"I'm coming!" Duo replied in the pause between knocks. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he got out of bed, and opened the door. A frazzled looking Quatre looked back at him.

"Come on" He said, walking towards the living room.

When they arrived, the others were sprawled around the TV in various states of sleepiness. Quatre went to sit beside a pajama clad Trowa. Wufei, wearing a pair of pants and his loosened shirt sat on the couch, eyes riveted to the Television. Heero was standing behind it, arms crossed across a blank green T-shirt. Duo sat in one of the chairs, now seeing what the others were so intent upon.

"look…" Heero grunted as an emphasis to his action. On the TV, a news reporter was showing pictures of destruction. In space.

"What you are seeing here" The Announcer said "Is the latest picture of the tragedy that took place late last night. Colony E23 was attacked by an unknown source at 11:46 PM. The few survivors are still being picked out of the shrapnel, and an estimated six thousand colony citizens were lost. From what we know, the attacking force was comprised of a single manned vehicle, possibly a mobile suit of unknown origins. The United Earth Sphere Alliance has taken control of the situation, and the rescue operation is well under way. They are manning the search for the culprit and-"

Trowa switched off the TV.

Everyone was silent. Each of the five pilots had his own thoughts, but Wufei was the first to break the silence with his input.

"…so. Oz has taken control of the situation. I would not be surprised if they staged the attack themselves to get the colonies' trust, the cowards." He sneered.

"They might be trying to draw attention away from the mobilization." Quatre added, looking around. A sad expression was on his face, expressing his deep sorrow.

"Maybe…" Duo agreed, the images of what was now so much space debris still in his mind's eye. Who could possibly wipe out an entire colony without a moment's hesitation? He shook his head slightly, still feeling the lingering drowsiness of sleep upon him. 

It was something he couldn't comprehend. Even loving the fight as he did, Duo couldn't imagine destroying so many innocents. It was madness.

So, what do you people think? ^_^

This be my first real fic, so I'd really really like it if you (the loyal reader) could give me some input

Please, be gentle though, and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. ^_-

*Does a little dance* yes, my first fic!!

Will: *eyes her* I'd swear that you're daffy in the head.

H'seru: -_-6 shuddup 


	3. Boredom's Death

Title: Amethyst Wing

Author: H'seru

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gundam, or any of it's chars, much to their relief ^_-

Warnings: Mild citrus warning, more towards the fluff end, nothing serious. Shounen ai, angst, blood, violence, mild language, and probably some OOC-ness (Though I'll try and keep to the original char personality)

Rated: PG13

Thankies to you people who gave me Reviews, they were very encouraging…and stuff ^_-

Fog ridden places kept within the mind

Invisible to everyone including the possessor

Do you know how to see your own kind?

Death comes, disguised as a holy confessor

The rest of that short night was a sleepless one, as each of the Gundam pilots retired to his own room to mull over this newest horrible turn of events.

Duo lie in his bed, head nestled on his crossed arms, staring up at the ceiling. The pictures still played like a silent movie through his head, and he tried to banish them by thinking of something else. Unfortunately, the only other things he could think of on the spot consisted of a certain blue-eyed pilot and a large bowl of green Jell-O. He didn't even know why the Jell-O had come to mind, but he also didn't really care at the moment. (The other thought would definitely not help him get to sleep, so he had to forget about that one too.)

Rolling over, he closed his eyes, and tried to force himself to go sleep. It didn't work, and morning slowly came as he lie there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The engines hummed to life with an energy that was breath taking. The black metal carapace glistened in the sunlight, shining brightly into the eyes of those watching. The smell of exhaust, and oil permeated the air for a moment before it was burned away.

Fingers flying across the control panel from inside the cockpit, Duo started up Deathscythe fully, grinning brightly as his friend awoke from deep slumber. He gave a shout of excitement like a child as the Gundam got easily to it's feet, all systems running smoothly. He'd waited until today to restart it's engines entirely, and it started beautifully after being cold for so long. 

Running an automatic maintenance check, all the machinery showed up green and go except for the power cells. They were not fully charged still, even though Duo'd left them charging through the night. It might be a cracked cell. He'd have to check again, but the fact that it was the only problem made him quite happy. It almost paved over the thoughts lingering from the night before. Almost.

Maneuvering the black Gundam to a hanger similar to those the other Gundams were housed in, he shut off the engines, feeling the slight buzzing of the generators stopping. Opening the hatch, he climbed out, hopping to the ground. He landed, if a mite clumsily due to being a short lived invalid, on his feet next to the hulking Gundam.

Leaving his check of the power cells for later, considering that it wasn't too detrimental to Deathscythe's health, he walked the short distance from the hanger back to the complex, humming a random tune that had popped into his head. Opening the door, he sauntered in to find Heero busy at his laptop, and the others nowhere to be seen.

"Oi, Whatcha doing there Hee-chan?" Duo said, using his favorite nickname for Heero. He got a glare and a grunt as his answer, so he leaned over to look himself.

"Hmm…looking up info on that destroyed colony eh? Find anything worth while?" Duo asked, reading the information Heero'd gathered, while trying to not let his untoward feelings show through his smile. 

"Iie…" Heero answered, looking back at him, a slight frown on his face that was gone almost immediately. "There were no pictures taken, and no videos survived the explosion. Every one who saw it is dead." He said, surprising Duo with the fact that he'd actually answered in more than the usual grunt. The look on his face was as unidentifiable as normal, but there was something there. Duo had caught the frown, and could only make a guess at the emotion hidden there, but he hazarded that Heero was as shocked about this as the rest of them.

"Who do you think did it?" Duo asked, sitting down in one of the chairs near him.

"I don't know." Heero answered, most of his attention centered back on his laptop again. He typed rapidly, searching for more information.

"Well…if ya get anything, tell me k?"

"Hn..."

Duo nodded, knowing he'd gotten as much out of Heero as he was going to. Pushing himself out of the seat, he walked through the rest of the small house, looking for someone to talk to, or at least something to do. The others seemed to be off on their own, as Duo didn't see a one of them he could pester. 

The time in between missions was always like this; filled with a whole lot of nothing, with boredom coming into play almost immediately. It was as dull as normal life could get. Besides, what could possibly take the place of fighting against odds where if you didn't go all out, you'd be dead?

Duo smiled as he headed for his room, and a change of clothes, an idea forming in his head. Slipping into a pair of black leather pants and a red top, he put on a black leather jacket to complete the outfit.

Clubbing just happened to be one thing that might possibly help pass the time, indefinitely if need be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lights and music blared out of the first club Duo pulled into. He'd driven quite a distance to reach it, since the complex wasn't located anywhere near a city. He parked his jeep outside, and made his way in, squeezing past the bouncer at the door, and loosing himself in the crowd. The press of people around him was exhilarating, and he was dancing before he knew it, moving with the crowd.

He particularly liked the upbeat rock this club played. Called the "Angel's Roost", it was supposed to be one of the more popular clubs, from what he'd heard while asking around. It certainly was popular, as Duo moved to the side of the dance floor to find a seat. He had to hunt for a moment before he found one further in the back. 

Sitting, he looked around, watching all the activity around him. Now, even in a place so full of things going on, Duo's mind wandered back to the colony's destruction. It was really bothering him. If it really had been a rogue mobile suit, then there was someone new for them all to watch out for. If it was Oz pulling some cover operation, then they would be sorry they ever messed with the colonies.

Duo watched the moving people; brilliant flashes of light chased each other about the now darkened room. Different colored spotlights were moving about the floor, lighting up couples, single dancers, and groups of people dancing all the same. A smile came to his face, lightening it from the darker, more serious expression it had previously worn, as he saw so many people having a good time just enjoying life. Then the thought _They are oblivious_ rose unbidden to his mind, and he realized it was true.

Most of these people had nothing more to worry about than what clothes they had to wear the next day to impress those around them. It was a sobering thought, and Duo couldn't look at the dancers quite the same that night.

At half past ten, he headed back, done with the club and it's happy, innocent people.

He got back at little past 11, and figuring that everyone was asleep, he let himself in, and stalked, catlike, to his room. Stripping to his boxers, he got in bed, feeling exhausted. 

His last thought before sleep was of how most people not fighting in the war were oblivious to what was really happening, oblivious to the sick twisted politics of today's society.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he awoke, several hours later, it was to an odd sense of déjà vu. Duo opened the door just in time to see Wufei heading towards his room, urgency in his stride. His face wore a troubled expression, a wholly unusual and unsettling look for the Chinese pilot.

"What?" Duo began, before Wufei said all that was needed in four words.

"They got another one…" 

Eh, this was kind of a filler chapter, but I promise the next one will be better

Besides, filler chapters flesh out a story quite nicely ^_-

(Plus, doesn't the suspense just kill ya?)

Domo arigato minna san!

*Dances* Woot, third chappie! Go me!

Please review!!!!


	4. Feelings of Hate

Title: Amethyst Wing

Author: H'seru

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gundam, or any of it's chars, much to their relief ^_-

Warnings: Mild citrus warning, more towards the fluff end, nothing serious. Shounen ai, angst, blood, violence, mild language, and probably some OOC-ness (Though I'll try and keep to the original char personality)

Rated: PG13

I rewrote parts of this chappie, for those of you who've read it already. Please at least skim though it again. 

((the original draft bothered me, and I had to rewrite it. -_-6))

Those few, sparse moments when you see the truth of being

It confuses even those most well versed in love

Beneath the waters, dark to block all seeing

Find what you believe to be from above.

Another colony.

Another four thousand innocent lives flushed down the proverbial drain.

Duo felt his hands clench into tight fists as pictures flashed on the television, fingernails cutting into his palms. Memories half forgotten flashed through his mind, accompanying the pictures on the screen.

The United Earth Sphere Alliance had sectored off the colonies, leaving a squadron of space Leo suits to protect them in case another attack was staged. Every one of them had been destroyed. Only two pilots had managed to survive with critical injuries, clinging to the wreckage of their suits, and in severe shock. When they were picked up, and able to speak, they testified to not seeing anything but a bright flash of green light before their suits exploded, accompanied by the rest of their squadron shortly thereafter, a shape, black as space flashing between them faster than any normal mobile suit.

Then the colony had blown, taking with it four thousand citizens and several UESA transport ships. 

This news set the Gundam pilots aback slightly. Would Oz really attack their own troops to try and prove they weren't behind it?

"Feh, of course they would!" Wufei said when Quatre posed the question out loud. "Oz will do anything to win. Their damn screwed up politics and propaganda quests aren't above anything that could increase their standing in the eyes of the people. What are a few low class soldiers to them?"

Heero nodded, agreeing with him, and Quatre suddenly sat down next to Trowa on the couch, his face slightly pale. Trowa's hand discreetly slipped into his, squeezing it reassuringly.

"So…what are we going to do?" Trowa's quiet voice asked, drawing everyone's attention.

"Nothing" Heero replied, almost automatically.

Everyone stared at him.

"Heero, what the hell are you saying!? We have to stop this!" Duo spoke up, feeling something unknown beginning to build within him. 

"You will do nothing." Heero said again in a voice full of bitter authority, pointedly looking at each of them. "If Oz is behind this as a cover operation, then us stopping the attacks on the colonies might stop their mobilization. Without destroying the suits being gathered there, war between earth and the colonies would be inevitable, costing more than a few thousand lives. Oz is gathering that force for an all out attack in space, so if the mobilization is stopped, they may restart it in another location. We cannot jeopardize this mission."

There was silence for a moment, as Heero returned his attention back solely to Duo, who's amethyst eyes were smoldering.

"…That's all you ever think about isn't it Heero…The fucking mission." Duo said in a low voice, standing up. All traces of the jovial smile were gone, for the first time that Heero could remember, and it deeply shocked him to see the braided pilot wearing a fierce expression of what looked to be hatred instead.

Duo glared at him for a moment, violet eyes boring into cobalt blue depths, before coldly striding out of the room, a silence deeper than the cosmos left in his wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, Heero was at his laptop, typing away at something that only used the part of his mind not consumed by those haunting amethyst eyes, burning hatred. He'd never seen Duo like that, and it bothered him more than it should have. It made him pause to actually think of the 02 pilot instead of the façade of charismatic childishness he put on every day. 

Then, with a start, Heero realized that he just might have seen the person who was really Duo. The deep, scarred side of the Gundam pilot obsessed with death. He'd vaguely wondered before how Duo always seemed to be happy even in the face of daunting odds, even though it was the braided pilot's selling point. It was impossible for someone to be that cheerful in their profession. Heero knew Duo enjoyed the fight, but not the taking of lives, even though he proclaimed to be Shinigami. His behavior was so inconsistent sometimes. 

Heero's thoughts ran on to their logical conclusion; a search of Duo's past for a reason why the braided pilot would act so strangely. Then, as if waking from a dream, Heero realized he'd never gotten around to looking up Duo's information. Remembering back to their first meeting, it baffled him to no end. As the Perfect Soldier, Heero was unused to making mistakes, and this revelation of what could have been a deadly mistake once upon a time even went so far as to stop his typing. 

He had not looked up a single thing on Duo. He'd taken the pilot at face value, a sad estimate of the person he was. It was disturbing to think that anyone had the power to override his common sense. 

It was a testimony of how feelings were a weakness. The unusual feelings Heero'd begun to feel inside him whenever the braided pilot was around, acting foolish, or even just chattering away at nothing in particular were beginning to affect his work. They were a weakness he could not afford, and the Perfect Soldier within in him constantly reminded him of that. 

Resuming the clack clack of his typing, his brooding thoughts were interrupted by a message arriving to his mailbox.

It was a new mission.

No, it was an extended set of directions concerning the newest events and the mystery mobile suit. He was charged with the job of not stopping, but acquiring information on this new threat so as to proceed as best after said information was processed. And it was for him alone to do. The e-mail letter expressly forbid involving the other pilots. 

Heero gave a small grunt. That meant he wouldn't be able to placate Duo with the knowledge that he was doing something about the attacks. That was some cause for concern, because he never knew what the braided pilot would do next. 

That thought abruptly thrust into his mind, he suddenly stopped his work. 

Saving the data, he closed the laptop, and went in search of the disquieting pilot.

Heero found Duo in his room, surprisingly, as it was the last place he looked after checking the Gundam bunker first. He'd been somewhat relieved to find that Duo'd not decided to suddenly take off and do something on his own. He seemed to have a knack for getting himself into trouble when he was alone.

Not bothering to knock, Heero walked in, finding Duo there, sitting on his bed, taking apart his gun, angrily greasing the pieces, then shoving them back into place with a series of resounding clicks.

"What the hell do you want?" He said without looking up. From what Heero could see, his face didn't openly hold the hatred of before, but he could tell it was there, poorly hidden behind Duo's emotionless expression.

"I came to make sure you didn't leave on your own," Heero stated, matter of factly. Duo looked up at him then, snapping the last piece of his gun together, and laying it smack on his bed.

"Oh you did eh? Gotta make sure I don't screw up your precious mission to save the lives of thousands of innocents which you don't give a rat's ass about." Duo said, trying to not let himself go from the strict restraints he placed about his mentality. Taking a breath, he returned the stare Heero gave him.

For some reason, Heero felt...intimidated by this side of Duo. He was taken aback by the anger he felt there. Sure Duo had tantrums all the time over some little thing or another, but this was different.

This was deeper.

Walking further into his room, Heero kept his eyes on Duo. Duo sensed that there was...something...different about Heero's placid face, as if some emotion or another struggled to express itself through the layers of metal that surrounded the still human heart of Heero Yuy.

Duo tried to keep his anger boiling. The pilot standing in front of him wanted to let thousands of innocents die in some damn terrorist attack, he told himself. It was too reminiscent of what had happened to him on L2...and yet.

Despite his best efforts, the anger began to fizzle away, slowly, like the sudden torrent of rain that slows to a drizzle in mere moments, and Duo's face became truly emotionless, not needing to hide what wasn't there. He'd never been too good at holding a grudge, no matter how large or rightly deserving the grudgee was, and it was with a depressed tone that he continued.

"Why did you come here...?" Duo asked again , his voice quieter than before. Heero's eyes quirked at the sudden change.

"I already told you." He replied.

"...That's not why you're here. That's an excuse. Something to hide behind." Duo said.

"Who are you to talk to me about hiding." Heero said in a low voice. "You never do anything but hide. Your entire cheerful game is nothing but a mask."

Duo got to his feet suddenly, a new emotion coloring the amethyst eyed boy's voice.

"And what do you care!?" He said, practically shouting. "The Perfect Soldier has nothing to hide, isn't that right? Who cares except me? I keep from the world what it would pity me for!" 

Duo's eyes burned, and he felt the overwhelming truth behind his own words. He stood there, abruptly quiet, fists clenched tightly against what threatened to overwhelm him as silence descended upon the room in a choking blanket.

Heero's emotionless face hid it's own store of feelings that were unusual and foreign to the 01 pilot. It was like he'd split into two people, watching Duo's display. 

On one side, stood the Perfect soldier, watching full of contempt for this weak show of emotion. On the other, stood a boy, watching one of his only friends hurting beyond what time would repair, and feeling an emotion larger than friendship engulfing him. 

Heero walked over to stand in front of Duo, whose eyes were planted firmly on the ground in front of his feet. Slowly, he lifted his head until his beautiful eyes met Heero's. A plaintive look swam beneath those amethyst depths, partially concealed by the cheerful exterior he desperately tried to bring to his defense, begging silently for help he would never voice aloud. It was a cry that the small, and stifled human side of Heero felt, and pushed aside the Perfect Soldier for the barest moment because of.

Duo unexpectedly felt the warm arms of the messy haired pilot wrap around him, a solid boundary for his heart to be supported with. He tensed at first, resisting the breaking down of the hardened walls of his heart, then leaned into the embrace, feeling his emotions welling up.

Heero held him tightly as Duo's body began to shake. Emotions he had no name to, that he'd never even experienced were tossed about within him, keeping the side that was the Perfect Soldier at bay while he comforted the boy shaking like a leaf in his arms.

Duo, eyes red with tears that left wet trails down his face, was surprisingly the first one to break from the embrace. Backing out of the enclosure of warmth and comfort, His eyes came up to meet uncertainly with Heero's. Pilot 01's eyes held a deeply profound warmth that eased some of Duo's uncertainties despite how unusual any emotion in the blue eyed pilot was.

That was when the Perfect Soldier slid forcefully into control again, and Heero's face registered nothing of what had been there before.

Silently, Heero left the room from the same door he'd entered, a confused Duo staring after him, his hurt somewhat abated, but there still to trouble him.

Fortunately, Duo's mind was more on the subject of Heero, and the pilot's sudden show of emotion instead of the death he had to face later. He sat on his bed, a bewildered look on his face.

His arms came up to wrap about his lithe frame, and the warmth of that chaste embrace still filled his heart. Heero's actions did nothing for his muddled thoughts on the matter of the colonies, but for some reason, it made him feel better. Slowly, the corners of his mouth turned up in the barest hint of a smile, and it was not a mask. 

Well? Please, please tell me if you enjoy this, and I'll post more of it.

Will:…right

H'seru: I will post more damn it!

Will: sure.

H'seru: *whacks him with a fish*

Will: @_@….

Please review!!


	5. A Brief Respite

Amethyst Wing

By: Hseru

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Gundam, or any of its chars, much to their relief ^_-

Warnings: Mild citrus warning, more towards the fluff end, nothing serious. Shounen ai, angst, blood, violence, mild language, and probably some OOC-ness (Though I'll try and keep to the original char personality)

Rated: PG13

Chapter 4

Over the next two days, nothing more was heard about the mysterious attacks. Duo and Wufei were sent on an easy mission that finally got the stir crazy pilot out of the safe house, and back in his gundam, and Trowa was sent on a lone infiltration mission at a base located near where the OZ forces were gathering.

The braided pilot had said nothing of what had happened between himself and Heero, and seemed as bright and cheery as someone in his situation could possibly be to the untrained eye. To the other pilots, however, he looked strained. His eyes seemed to be permanently bloodshot, and there was a tangible tension in the air when he was around any one of them. Quatre was the only one who seemed able to approach the surly Deathscythe pilot, and he did so to try and find out what was wrong.

He got nothing but vague, off handed answers that weren't answers at all, but rather like Duo was dodging around the subject. It wasn't healthy. There was a possibility that it could affect his piloting skills as well in the near future, and he said as much. The little blond had promptly been rebuked for suggesting such a thing, and was forced to back off for fear of having his head bitten off.

They were somewhat glad when he was sent on mission, though felt an immense pity for Wufei. Or perhaps that pity was for Duo, when he finally got on the Chinese pilot's last nerve.

They returned, mission complete, two days later, still with no news about the unknown fighter. All of the reports gathered gave the same results. Nothing.

Even Heero's vast search had given him zilch to go on. There were no new prototype suits that OZ was playing around with, as far as he could tell, and the underground word was that the suit was a special space type made by a completely new contender in the race for power. That it was space compatible was all but obvious, considering how well it moved in zero gravity, but that its origin was from another growing power was something they didn't even want to contemplate.

The night Wufei and Duo returned, having demolished their objective, a cargo plane carrying heavy weaponry and lightly defended, both of them took a spare few minutes simply to bathe, then practically fall into bed, asleep before their heads hit the pillow.

That was the night the rogue MS decided to attack again.

And this time, they grew certain that OZ was not behind it.

The prey for the night was a UESA mine on the F34 asteroid. The entire mine on that chunk of rock was destroyed, again with no survivors. It had been an important source of iron ore for their background operations, and to simply give them a plausible story, it was too big of a loss.

It seemed that the rogue MS was not biased for or against one side or the other. Still, if this went on much longer, OZ might disable its current plan of attack, and move its operations elsewhere. That was dangerous, and exactly what Heero and the others did not want to happen. They'd have to do something about this, and quick.

With Trowa still out on reconnaissance, Heero and Quatre let Wufei and Duo sleep for the moment when they heard the news on the television. That little box had managed to give them more information than any of their searches, so since the attacks had started, they'd kept a close watch on the local broadcasts.

It flashed on the screen, the demolished mine, and various closer pictures unlike what they'd seen before. Because there was still the asteroid, the angle of attack could be seen. Various slashes embedded deep within the rock around the wreckage gave the impression that the MS used either a long range laser, or a beam saber of some kind.

Both Heero and Quatre studied the pictures for a long time, deducting all they could from the poor shots.

The Arabian pilot glanced over at the stoic Japanese boy.

"We have to go up there." He said quietly. "….We know this isn't OZ, and if these attacks continue, they could be scared away from their mobilization preparations." Heero nodded slightly without looking at him.

"…..tomorrow, 16:00 hours." He said after a moment. Quatre nodded, and went to inform the others.

…

Quatre didn't know how Duo would react to the sudden change of plans, and he dodged into Wufei's room to wake the Chinese pilot first. After he'd gotten up, a grim determination filled Wufei's eyes as the blond explained everything in detail.

"Good…." He said, moving about the room to get prepared, even though they had several hours before they moved out. It was just enough time for Trowa to return from his mission.

Quatre worried a bit that the Heavyarms pilot might be overly tired, but it couldn't be helped, and he mulled over a few things as he walked down the hall to Duo's room.

Opening the door, he slipped inside. A quick glance around revealed that the room was empty. The bed covers were tousled, looking half slept in, which was the case.

Quickly going back outside, and down the hall, he once again peeked into Wufei's room.

"Did you see where Duo went?" He asked. 

Wufei paused in strapping his leg holster on, surprise in his eyes.

"I thought he was still sleeping." He replied, finishing the move, and walking to the door. Anxious at what he hoped had not happened, Quatre walked at a barely controlled pace back to the room he'd left Heero in, who was back at his lap top, typing up the specifics for their self appointed mission.

At the harried look of the Sandrock pilot, he knew something was wrong.

"What?" He asked simply. Quatre took a deep breath.

"Duo's missing"

A quick sprint to the hangar confirmed their worst fears. Deathscythe was gone, its launch pad cool to the touch, meaning he'd left long ago.

Cursing the fact that he'd heard nothing, Heero ran to Wing, hopping into the cockpit. Closing the hatch, and bringing up the radar screen, Heero wasn't surprised to see nothing of him still within a two hundred mile radius of the compound. 

"K'so…." He muttered, popping the hatch with a faint hiss of hydraulics. Both Quatre and Wufei had followed him, the little blond wide eyed, the dark haired pilot dour.

"He's not here." Heero needlessly confirmed as he slipped from the gundam to the ground.

"He's gone to space…"

--------------------

Ehehehe…so I've been away for a while. *bows* Gomen nasai!!

I want to keep this story going, and because I've had a sudden burst of inspiration when it comes to writing, I'm using it for as long as it lasts. Because of this burst, I'm working on over three stories at once, so if I could borrow some patience from someone else, I would appreciate it.


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